Afghan President Hamid Karzai has agreed with a call from
the country's conservative religious council for a crackdown on television
stations, calling some of their programs "immoral and un-Islamic," officials
said on Tuesday.

Reuters goes on to note that the announcement "may alarm
some of Afghanistan's international backers, who have invested heavily through
12 years of war in promoting liberal values and freedom of expression."

Maybe. Or maybe not. Over the years, international backers
have become accustomed to seeing proposals for restrictions on Afghanistan's
media bubble up. We have written to President Karzai several times (such as here,
here,
here,
and here)
to express our concerns.

But, as human rights activist Ahmad Nader Nadery, now at the
Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, pointed out to me when I was
in Kabul,

The government's attitude toward media has been mixed and
inconsistent. Its response seems to be driven more by individuals than by a
broad or coherent policy. There has been no systematic attempt to restrict
media, but individuals within the government working on their own group's
political agendas have made attempts.

It's probably wise to view this most recent Karzai
announcement in that light. While he will most likely step aside after the 2014
elections, he will be positioning a yet-to-be-announced candidate to be his
successor. Playing to the vast voting bloc of religiously conservative Afghans,
calling for a restrained media does Karzai little electoral damage, and is
another way to distance himself from the foreign forces in Afghanistan, a
tactic he has increasingly been using.

But what next? Wednesday's announcement criticizes "immoral
and un-Islamic" programming but stops short of accusing broadcasters of
"promoting prostitution," as the Ulema council of clerics did in their meeting
with Karzai on April 19. It was that meeting that led to Wednesday's
announcement.

There was no mention of stifling the still-vibrant news environment,
though there have been government attempts in the past. But a lot of the
programming that would fall under the "immoral and un-Islamic" classification
is actually a main revenue stream for broadcasters and helps support their news
programming. And that will have an impact. With ad revenues thin and
international donors drawing down, add one more worry to the list facing Afghan
media.

Bob Dietz, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia Program, has reported across the continent for news outlets such as CNN and Asiaweek. He has led numerous CPJ missions, including ones to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Follow him on Twitter @cpjasia and Facebook @ CPJ Asia Desk.